Posted: 03-Jun-25
Location: Petaluma, California
Type: Full Time
Salary: $72,000-75,000
Salary Details:
Preferred Education:
Title: Learning Resource Specialist – Grades Kinder-8th
Reports to: Head of School and K8 Division Head
Status: Full time, Exempt Employee
The Spring Hill School is an independent school that believes in developing the whole child by providing strong academics and social-emotional learning to foster a lifelong love of learning. Our guiding values are as follows: The Unique Potential of Each Child, Academic Excellence, Experiential Learning, Community & Diversity, Sustainability, and Global Engagement.
Teachers at The Spring Hill School are passionate, innovative, and dedicated members of the school community who work together to offer an engaging curriculum that promotes critical thinking and intellectual curiosity. We support our students to develop meaningful relationships with peers and faculty based on honesty, respect, and responsibility. We are a dedicated team of professionals who work closely together to create cross-curricular learning for all grade levels and maintain a positive work environment for all.
The Spring Hill School is seeking a dedicated and experienced Learning Specialist to support our Kindergarten through 8th-grade students. This role involves close collaboration with classroom teachers to identify and address a range of student learning needs across subject areas.
The Learning Specialist will provide both in-classroom support and targeted small group or one-on-one instruction, depending on student and teacher needs. Key responsibilities include managing a caseload of students, developing and implementing individualized learning goals and support plans, consulting regularly with teachers, and maintaining open communication with parents. This role also includes coordinating with public school districts when IEPs or formal evaluations are required.
We are looking for a candidate with a strong understanding of child development and how children learn, as well as hands-on experience supporting students with diverse learning profiles. The ideal candidate will have specialized training in assessment selection and administration, and the ability to use data and existing diagnoses to create meaningful and effective support plans.
Experience working with students who have language-based learning differences, dyscalculia, and challenges related to executive functioning, attention, memory, and processing speed is essential. We are especially interested in candidates who can support both language arts and math instruction.
Areas of Responsibility Include:
- Ensuring the safety and well-being of students at all times through the development and support of safe and secure environments at school.
- Managing a caseload of students.
- Providing direct support to teachers and students through one-to-one meetings, small group lessons, push-in support, and/or whole class support for the lead teacher during class lessons.
- Collaborating with teachers to assess and implement student accommodations and support needs.
- Designing and implementing learning plans and programs to actively engage students in meeting their learning goals, including the use of assistive technology, short-term interventions, push-in support, and small group lessons.
- Creating and maintaining the school’s electronic learning profile system and learning support plans for each student who needs additional support. This includes regularly updating student files with information on effective strategies, testing/assessments, received reports, notes from parent meetings, and classroom accommodations.
- Facilitating the distribution of relevant student information with all members of a student’s learning team (student, parent, advisor, teachers, outside professionals) as necessary to ensure cohesion and support for the student’s progress.
- Communicating regularly with parents about their child’s progress and inviting their participation and questions.
- Meeting with classroom teachers and administrators, as necessary, to provide student updates and share guidance about the resources each student needs to succeed at Spring Hill.
- Attending student-parent-teacher/advisor conferences and team meetings as needed. (Conferences may be scheduled before, during, or after school hours.)
- Completing narrative reports of student progress on report cards or more frequently when deemed necessary by a child’s learning team.
- Assisting parents in understanding their child’s unique learning profile, participation in a learning support program, and how the program connects to classroom learning and content/curriculum mastery.
- Maintaining appropriate confidentiality concerning each student within and outside the school community.
- Working as a member of the faculty to further develop the school’s learning support program.
- Keeping relevant credentials and training up to date. Setting professional development goals with a supervisor to enhance effectiveness and support ongoing growth.
- Attending school events, faculty meetings, and participating in teacher duties.
- Completing Dyslexia screenings and other academic assessments as needed.
- Assisting parents with accessing outside evaluations.
- Recommending tutors and specialists as needed.
The Spring Hill School is an equal opportunity employer. All individuals have an equal opportunity for employment based on qualifications and merit, regardless of religion, race, sex, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, color, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, military service status, or any other factor prohibited by state or federal law. This policy applies to all areas of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training, promotion, compensation, benefits, and other conditions of employment. Spring Hill also makes reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities and for employees who request an accommodation for pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions
Experience and Qualifications:
- Special Education credential required.
- Master’s degree or equivalent training and experience in learning disabilities, educational therapy, special education, or a related field (preferred).
- Experience as a school-based learning specialist (preferred).
- Knowledge, skills, and experience to provide individualized, multi-sensory approaches to remediation of language-based learning challenges such as Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, Lindamood-Bell, and/or Slingerland programs.
- Knowledge, skills, and experience to provide individualized approaches to math remediation.
- Knowledge, skills, and experience related to attention, memory, language, social skills, and executive functioning challenges, and how they impact learning and academic success.
- Knowledge of and appreciation for child development in young children and adolescents.
- Ability to establish effective and collaborative working relationships with students, faculty, staff, and parents.
- Ability to work effectively with colleagues and a supervising administrator.
- Appropriate technology skills to accomplish job responsibilities and an interest in new resources in this area.
- Strong organizational and time management skills.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills.